In recent years, digital cameras and digital video cameras have been in widespread use, and users increasingly accumulate captured digital photos and digital video (hereinafter referred to as “photos” and “video”) in a communication device (hereinafter referred to as “terminal”) such as a personal computer (PC) to view them. Along with the widespread use of the Internet, more and more terminals are connected to the network, and content such as the photos and video accumulated in the terminals is exchanged via the network.
In photos and video, objects which entail privacy concerns, such as human faces and residences, often appear. When sharing photos and video with a friend, it is therefore necessary to check and set a destination in advance so as not to transmit the content to an unintended recipient.
For example, PTL 1 discloses a communication control system for sharing photos between television receivers. The communication control system disclosed by PTL 1 is a system for sharing photos between persons who know predetermined identification information (ID).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional photo sharing system 100.
In FIG. 1, the photo sharing system 100 includes a transmitting terminal 101, a receiving terminal 102, and a photo sharing server 103. The transmitting terminal 101 is a communication device which is operated by a sender of a photo, and the receiving terminal 102 is a communication device which is operated by a recipient of the photo. The photo sharing server 103 is a server device which issues ID to the transmitting terminal 101 and in which photos to be shared are accumulated.
FIG. 2 is a sequence chart for explaining the operation in the conventional photo sharing system 100. Specifically, FIG. 2 shows how to check and set a destination before photo-sharing.
In Step S201, the transmitting terminal 101 transmits, to the photo sharing server 103, a request for issuing shared ID. The photo sharing server 103 then generates shared ID and transmits the generated shared ID to the transmitting terminal 101 in Step S202.
In Step S203, the transmitting terminal 101 receives the shared ID from the photo sharing server 103 and displays the received shared ID on a screen. The sender notifies the recipient of the shared ID displayed on the screen. The notification is made using a telephone and so on. In Step S204, the receiving terminal 102 receives an input of the shared ID from the recipient who has been notified of the shared ID.
The above description is made on the conventional way to check and set a destination.
Furthermore, in the case of transmitting a photo of a sender from the transmitting terminal 101 to the receiving terminal 102, the transmitting terminal 101 transmits, to the photo sharing server 103, the shared ID and the photo desired to be transmitted. The photo sharing server 103 accumulates the received shared ID and photo in such a way that the received shared ID and photo are associated with each other. Afterward, the receiving terminal 102 transmits, to the photo sharing server 103, the shared ID set in advance, and receives, from the photo sharing server 103, the photo associated with the shared ID, thereby receiving the photo of the sender.